This week in religion history: The age old persecution story

February 17

1858: The Waldensians, considered by many to be the first Protestants and whose dwindling numbers had fled to the Italian Alps following centuries of savage persecution, were finally guaranteed civil and religious rights by the Italian government. They trace their beginnings to the teachings of a wealthy Lyon, France, merchant named Pater Waldo in the late 1100s, who had denounced nearly all Catholic feasts and sacraments.

1989: The Canadian government temporarily blocked the import of Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses, which Muslims felt was blasphemous.

2012: The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Quebec’s mandatory ethics and religious course did not violate freedom of religion. A Drummondville couple argued the class violated their freedom of religion by forcing their children to be exposed to religious beliefs that were different from the family’s.

February 18

1546: Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died.

1564: Michelangelo Buonarroti, an Italian Renaissance artist whose works include the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, died in Rome.

1678: Puritan preacher John Bunyan published The Pilgrim’s Progress, the bestselling book (apart from the Bible) in history.

1688: The Quaker community in Germantown, Pa., issued the first formal North American protest of slavery.

1984: Italy and the Vatican signed an agreement under which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion of Italy.

2012: Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins was among 22 men elevated to the position of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Collins became the 16th Canadian to reach that elite level.

February 19

1377: John Wycliffe went on trial in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral after arguing against the sale of indulgences, the worship of saints and the veneration of relics. He was never convicted as a heretic.

1732: Religious houses in New France were forbidden to shelter fugitives from justice.

2010: Pope Benedict approved the sainthood for Montreal’s Brother Andre, the founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory who was credited with miracle healings before his death in 1937. Formal canonization took place Oct. 17 in Rome.

2010: Comments by music legend Elton John in an interview posted on the website of the U.S. magazine Parade caused consternation among many Christians. John said, “I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.” The Catholic League condemned the comments, saying that to call Jesus a homosexual is to “label him a sexual deviant.”

February 20

1790: Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died. This left a leadership vacuum that eventually led to a series of revolutions that resulted in the end of the Christian empire.

1906: An appeal court upheld the conviction of a Woodstock, Ont. woman on a charge of practising voodoo.

February 21

1109: Anselm, founder of Scholasticism and archbishop of Canterbury, died. His treatise Why Did God Become Man is recognized by scholars as the greatest medieval treatise on the atonement.

1801: John Henry Cardinal Newman was born in London. While a student at Oxford University, he became a leader of the Oxford Movement, which attempted to reform the Church of England. He later left the Anglican church and joined the Roman Catholic Church.

1988: TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart temporarily stepped down from his ministry after telling viewers, “I have sinned against you.” He was responding to reports he had visited a prostitute.

1998: Toronto’s Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope John Paul II, in a ceremony at the Vatican City, attended by 20,000 people.

February 22

1954: American evangelist Billy Graham began a three-month crusade in London. He filled an 11,000-seat arena every night of his tour and was mobbed by crowds wherever he went. More than two million attended the meetings.

2006: Insurgents detonated bombs inside one of Iraq’s most famous Shiite shrines in Samarra, destroying its golden dome and triggering reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques.

2011: 36 people were crushed to death and at least 64 others were injured in a stampede as a crowd tried to leave a stadium following a religious ceremony in Bamako, Mali.

February 23

155: Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and an early Christian church father who was a disciple of the Apostle John, was martyred. Arrested at age 86, Polycarp was burned at the stake by the Romans for refusing to deny the Christian faith.

303: Roman Emperor Diocletian began his Great Persecution, issuing edicts calling for church buildings to be destroyed, sacred writings burned, Christians to lose civil rights, and clergy to be imprisoned and forced to sacrifice.

1455: Johannes Gutenberg published the Bible, the first book ever printed on a press with movable type.

1685: George Frideric Handel, one of the greatest masters of baroque music, was born in Halle, Germany. He is best known for his majestic oratorio, The Messiah, which was first performed in Dublin in 1742. The popularity of this work has given the erroneous impression that Handel composed mainly sacred works. Handel took up residence in England in 1712, and it was for King George I that he composed his celebrated orchestral piece, Water Music, in 1717. Handel’s sight became impaired in 1751 and within two years, he was totally blind. He died in 1759, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.